Pl. femurs, femora. [a. L. femur thigh.]
1. Anat. The thigh bone in man and other vertebrata.
1799. in Med. Jrnl., II. 482. The femur … was found in blackish fragments.
1830. R. Knox, Béclard’s Anat., § 615. A case of false joint in consequence of the fracture of the neck of the femur, has lately been published as an example of separation of the epiphysis in an adult.
1869. Gillmore, Reptiles & Birds, i. 12. The femur, or thigh, is much lengthened and slightly curved.
1872. Nicholson, Palæont., 304. The thigh-bone or femur, corresponding with the humerus in the fore-limb.
2. Entom. The corresponding part in an insect; the third articulation of the foot.
1834. H. M’Murtrie, Cuvier’s The Animal Kingdom, 327. The ambulatory organs of locomotion of a coxa formed of two pieces, a femur, an unarticulated tibia, and of a tarsus, which is divided into several phalanges.
1875. W. Houghton, Sk. Brit. Insects, 128. In some genera the femur of the hind legs is enormously swollen.
3. Arch. ‘The space between the channels [of the Triglyph]’ (Gwilt).
1363. Shute, Archit., D j b. The pillor shalbe garnished with Canalicoli … and the fifth parte is for Striæ, which are also called Femora.
